"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."

Friday, February 19, 2010

What's coming next and, yes I really said it

This is the time of year when people look at their successes and failures of last year, plan for the new year and find themselves saying, "Maybe I need more (fill in the blank)." We all do it; I realized that I need more focus and this year I'm abandoning the run all distances every week and fail at all of them approach. Then it occurred to me that this is a great subject for a series of posts, as athletes tend to either pick and choose items from other people's schedules or blindly follow someone's training schedule (and when it fails, try someone else's).

So, coming up will be 4 [I think] posts on training philosophies. First, the high-mileage, race-yourself-into-shape approach. Second, the low-mileage, cross-training, race when things come together approach. Third, the variety of peaking strategies (so ingrained in most competitive runners they don't realize it's a choice). Fourth, I'll cover my own method, which might be more of a mindset than anything else.

Foot, meet mouth.

You know that filter that keeps you from saying things you think but realize will do no good? It's not that I don't have it; mine just seems to be a bit slower than it should be and, if what I'm thinking is clever or funny enough, I say it, knowing full well I'll feel terrible for saying it later. And yet, I'm just a little proud of it, too. Case in point:

A friend called to tell me the news that his wife just had the baby - healthy girl, blah blah blah (oops, mind wandered) and said the name. I wasn't sure if they went with the old-fashioned spelling of Christy or the more common Kristi. They spelled it Qhrystee. And I said...

17 comments:

Seriously? I work with little kids and I am amazed at the names parents give their kids. I know of a girl whose name is "Princess." Some of them are fruits. Some of them have names that I think is more appropriate for family pets. Gee. Whatever happen to John, David, Mary, Jane, or even Christina?

Hey, those names have nothing over the "old school" names from SW MN. And this is honest....guy's name was Harry Dick and another was Harry Balls...no lie....phone book to prove it. I think Michelob is now quite happy with his/her name given some alternatives....oh, almost forgot. I was a career counselor at the U in a past life and one of my student's name was Joe Cool.

That's so funny Bill - I had a lecturer in college who's name was Joe something (not actually "something" I just cannot remember his last name) - but we called him Joe Cool! He was a physics professor and was a bit out there, but definitely cool... in his own way.

It is a wonder that parents do not think through the name choices and at times it seems like they will through together any old set of letters. That said, Mr. Wildknits and I did the "if I was a mean 3rd grader what could I morph this name into" before settling on a name for the oldest girl. We did go with unique, and tweaked the spelling a bit to aid pronunciation (from the original Lithuanian), but not before trying to create all kinds of horrible nicknames from it first.

I can see the humor in your comment and I can also imagine the looks on the parent(s) faces... ;->

ROTFL! Why, oh why, do parents curse their children with such names? It's like naming a white girl "Angel". She's cursed to live in a trailer with her six kids and have three of the baby daddies in and out of prison and her bed on a regular basis. I love that you said that though...

first day of class I always do attendance and is one of my favorite moments of the entire term. I get to hear what ridiculous pseudonyms these kids have. Like Andy Kaufman characters, although his were actually wonderful. Does it get any better than watching Andy as comedy lounge crooner "Tony Clifton" patronizing an entire audience...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=729c1C8lI_k&feature=related

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Steve says hi. Like in the last line of a letter (remember when people wrote letters?) between two people who both know him. Like that. Hi.
Oh, and I write about running. 35 years and nearly 600 races thus far.